A Million Dollar Smile: Remembering Karen Vold
Written by: Dee Yates
The rodeo world has lost one of its brightest lights. Karen Vold, 2016 recipient of the Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award and matriarch of the iconic Vold Rodeo Company, passed away peacefully January 12th at the family’s HV Ranch near Fowler, Colorado, from natural causes. She was 86.
If you ever saw Karen Vold, you know exactly what Cheryl Bryant meant when she said Karen “always had a million dollar smile.” That smile was genuine, the kind that came from a woman who’d found her purpose young and never let go of it, even when life threw her curveballs.
Born Karen Womack around 1939 in Phoenix, Karen grew up with rodeo in her blood. Her father, Andy Womack, was a ProRodeo Hall of Fame rodeo clown, and by age 10, Karen was learning trick riding from world champion Dick Griffith. She wasn’t just dabbling, she was all in. At just 14 years old, she entered her first rodeo as a trick rider, jumpstarting a career that would make her one of the best in ProRodeo. By 18, she was performing at larger events across the country.
Karen didn’t just perform trick riding, she preserved it. In 1962, she formed The Flying Cimarrons, a troupe that brought trick riding back into the spotlight when it desperately needed champions. Later, she created The Firebirds contract act. These weren’t vanity projects. They were Karen’s way of saying, “This matters. This heritage matters. And I’m not letting it die.”
The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame recognized that dedication in 1978 when they inducted her. She also received the prestigious Tad Lucas Award and the 2016 Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award. But Karen’s real legacy wasn’t in the trophies or the accolades, it was in the riders she trained and inspired.
